In 2023, the Albanese Government awarded $15 million to create the Australian Centre for Targeted Therapeutics. This center is a joint effort between the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), the Children’s Cancer Institute, and Monash University.
WEHI has now spun out Ternarx to form a globally competitive biotech company focused on commercializing targeted protein degrader medicines and technology.
Targeted protein degrader technology works by destroying proteins that cause cancers. Many cancers are linked to specific proteins, but most of these proteins do not respond to current drug treatments.
Every year, 150,000 Australians are diagnosed with cancer. Most receive treatments developed over 25 years ago, which often have severe side effects.
Ternarx aims to develop new protein degrader technology to create next-generation cancer medicines. These medicines are expected to be more effective and have fewer side effects.
Unlike conventional drugs that only inhibit protein activity, targeted protein degraders can destroy disease-causing proteins, completely removing them from the cancer.
Initially, Ternarx will focus on neuroblastoma and prostate cancer. If successful, the technology could expand to other cancers and proteins linked to untreatable inflammatory diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases.
The $15 million investment in Ternarx came from the Medical Research Future Fund’s (MRFF) Frontier Health and Medical Research initiative. This initiative funds projects aiming to solve persistent health issues through medical breakthroughs.
Minister Butler’s Statement:
“It is an honour to officially launch Ternarx, a significant and exciting addition to Australia’s growing, high-quality medical and biotech sector.
“The technology it is pursuing has huge potential to create the next generation of treatments for cancer and other diseases.
“Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and neuroblastoma tragically claims the lives of more children under 5 than any other cancer.
“Protein degrader technology promises cancer treatments that are more effective, with fewer side effects.
“With support from the MRFF, our brilliant researchers can turn their ideas into new treatments that have the potential to save thousands of lives, not just here but around the world.”
